Herald Publications: Panaji: Monday, April 28, 2014.
Expecting to expose more ‘high profile’ names in
the list of beneficiaries of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment
Guarantee Assurance (MGNREGA) scheme after it first surfaced in Chimbel, the
whistle blower NGO has formed teams to probe the alleged illegal practice in
the other parts of Goa.
Basing its claims on information obtained under
the Right To Information Act, Goa Parivartan Manch released a series of names
from the political, cricket and Bollywood field who figure in the list of
MGNREGA scheme beneficiaries.
NGO convener Yatish Naik said they have formed
four teams to study lists in each of the 12 talukas in a bid to further expose
the irregularities.
“The team members will scrutinize each name listed
under the scheme. We are certain that some more names of celebrities have been
included in the list,” he said.
Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, Amitabh Bachchan,
Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting (non-Indian national), Kapil Dev, Saurav
Ganguli, Rahul Dravid, Aamir Khan and Yuvraj Singh are among many names
surprisingly listed among other beneficiaries. As per the information, these
‘bogus beneficiaries’ who are allegedly misusing the identity of celebrities
are also given ‘job cards’ to avail financial benefit under the national scheme.
Naik said they are also planning to file more RTI
applications with the Rural Development Agency in both the districts and other
concerned agencies. “We will ask the government to build a web of information
to know what exactly happened during the entire process of the scheme including
its implementation, to unearth the scam,” he added.
A memorandum seeking investigation into the entire
scam and to revisit the scheme’s implementation has already been sent to the
President’s Office by registered post, he said. Moreover, the
lawyer-cum-activist said he is personally in touch with the officers in Delhi
in this regard.
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